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May 29, 2017 12:52:19 GMT -5
Post by index on May 29, 2017 12:52:19 GMT -5
He arrived at the entrance of the caverns from the back of his mount, which had been a lightning, dog... thing. Not that it mattered, since no one would probably ask what it was. What mattered more was trying to find someone to accompany him to venture down the caverns. He could try soloing it as risky as it sounds, but even if he did it and managed to survive, that would probably take hours for the bounty to conclude. While he didn't have much to spend his time on, he'd rather spend it on leisure rather than down the caves.
Opening up his interface, he got into the LFG tool and put up a request to hunt down this so called Ragnarok the Unbreakable. At this point, Index did not care who would take up his request as long as they got the loot from the bounty soon. As he waited for any replies, he lied down on top of his Raiju, which definitely beats sitting at the ground, and played with the interface. Opening up his inventory, he started to take some of the fishes he won from a stall out. The paladin watched as they swam overhead, chuckling as they breathed bubbles. Yeah, they definitely are useless.
//open bounty
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May 29, 2017 15:16:26 GMT -5
Post by catharsis on May 29, 2017 15:16:26 GMT -5
 GIVE ME ALL YOUR ENERGY
LOVE ME LIKE AN ENEMY Hunting down a bounty had seemed like as good an idea as any when he realized he had time to spare. By the time he realized that the bottomless caverns were a place where he couldn't see five inches in front of his face, it was too late and he'd already accepted the fucking quest. Damn it. Pulling the pet out of his inventory, Catharsis rested the lavender faywood spirit on his shoulder, moving on to find the person who he'd found on the LFG tool. Moving forward, the owl rabbit thing would light the way in short pulses, which was better than nothing. It was nice just how useful the thing was turning out to be. Some decisions, you just had to commit to. Not everything, but some. "Index, right?" He asked, noticing the guy resting on his giant ... dog thing. Whatever it was supposed to be. It looked like he was a defender, too. That was nothing short of a good sign to the healer. Defenders were in limited supply these days, so it was a stroke of pure luck to find one even if it was by chance. "Are we waiting for anyone else?"
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May 29, 2017 21:03:23 GMT -5
Post by index on May 29, 2017 21:03:23 GMT -5
The sudden voice shook him, ungracefully shoving back all the goldfish to their respective spots in his inventory in a hurry. Along with a few hand motions that closed the interface in front of him, the paladin sat upright from his position and met the empath on eye level. "Uh, yes. That's me." By the looks of it, he wasn't alone with the thought of using pets as a form of illumination, or, well, mounts on his case. The sparks it produced weren't enough to substitute for a torch, but it was enough to see the outlines of the path that lead to the bottom.
Still, he felt the need of an actual source of light to feel safe in the darkness. "Not really," he answered as he took out a torch from his inventory. The flames didn't couldn't light up the whole cave, but it was better than the ambient lighting that his mount provided. He gave a few taps on the beast's head to wake it up before turning to Catharsis. "Shall we get going?" Index would wait for his response before he'd lead his Raiju deeper to the caves.
catharsis
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May 29, 2017 22:56:39 GMT -5
Post by catharsis on May 29, 2017 22:56:39 GMT -5
GIVE ME ALL YOUR ENERGY
LOVE ME LIKE AN ENEMY He blinked as he noticed only at the last second the man shoving a collection of floating fish out of sight. Man, same. He wasn't about to admit he was in the same boat as the guy, though, considering he only vaguely recognized him - probably from a raid or something. The mount was pretty big, or Index was pretty tall, considering they were suddenly at eye level the second he sat up. He blinked, not used to that happening most of the time. Turned out, a lot of nerds were short, standing under his lanky height. Kind of awkward, but that was beside the point. They were here to kill a bounty, and Cat was looking forward to the reward money, so there wasn't really any need to waste time. Still, the obvious insecurity was something to file away for later. "Can't wait." He answered, appreciative that the guy wanted to walk beside his mount rather than leaving the healer in the dirt behind him. He was even more appreciative that at least the other half of the party hadn't forgotten a torch. Keeping a pet around as a backup wasn't really working out for him all that well. "So, you know much about the bounty?" Catharis asked, glancing at his companion. He'd done his own research, but it helped what someone could learn from the question anyway. Especially about the other party member. The guy was armored, so he didn't really look like a healer. That was a good sign to him; meant he could be useful and pull his own weight. He was lazy, but something about getting carried left a bad taste in his mouth if it happened too many times in a row. And Otohime had felt like a damn trainwreck, no matter how many people wanted to thank him.
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May 30, 2017 6:44:10 GMT -5
Post by index on May 30, 2017 6:44:10 GMT -5
The tunnels had been too friendly for him fortunately. No trash mobs that he expected to live deep beneath the ground was absent and the path that led to the boss room was straightforward at best. Granted, it was his first time in the bottomless caverns and what he observed might be normal in this place. When Catharsis asked about the bounty, Index could only shrug his shoulders at the question. "Not really, to be honest. Do I need to know about something before we fight it?" They already survived Otohime. What else could Ragnarok do to them that the raid boss couldn't?
The network of tunnels eventually diverged into multiple paths, though he could see the main path leading to a larger room from the dim lights of his torch. Stopping, he tried raising his torch to see more of the room, but to no avail. As a last ditch effort to see the contents of the room without directly stepping in, the paladin cast his heal on the ground purely for the aesthetic effect that came with it. The light eventually showed an outline of something large in the darkness, and the rumbles on the ground that followed would confirm it if the shape hadn't yet. "Guess we found it."
Hopping aboard his mount, he started moving towards the giant orc. He plunged his sword to the wall by the entrance of the room to make an indentation and stuck his torch right there. His eyes met Ragnarok's single eye as he readied his sword and prepared for the fight. Any sudden motion would probably prompt their target to make its move. "Ready?"
catharsis
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May 30, 2017 21:14:54 GMT -5
Post by catharsis on May 30, 2017 21:14:54 GMT -5
GIVE ME ALL YOUR ENERGY
LOVE ME LIKE AN ENEMY No information at all, huh? It seemed confident. Or suicidal. Catharsis cast Index a sideways glance, but shrugged and smiled. "I guess not. We can always just hit it 'til it dies, right?" Of course, being primarily a healer, 'we' meant 'you.' That was probably fine, though. Most of the classes that looked the way Index's did were capable, and if Index recognized him from the battle, then he might even already know Cat was a healer. Either way, he wasn't too worried. This wasn't to say he wasn't relieved when he saw Index first cast a spell to illuminate the cavern up ahead and then craft a place to leave his torch so his hands weren't full. The guy was smart, and that was something that could keep them alive in this. Cat let out a breath, making a note to try to keep the guy alive. The amount of people in the game who didn't just bulldoze ahead into the fight without even checking in with their party members ... well, there were too few. He nodded, "Ready when you are." He murmured, stepping back a bit from Index. He had no intention of being the first person hit, no thank you.
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May 31, 2017 2:07:38 GMT -5
Post by index on May 31, 2017 2:07:38 GMT -5
He would've preferred if the empath started the fight off with an offensive spell or something similar. Without a better weapon or offensive spells at hand, the paladin would appreciate any addition to damage he could get. Still, this probably was his fault for not exerting any effort for a more effective weapon than his short sword until now. He heaved a deep breath before ordering his Raiju to charge forward. The lighting brought by its sparks weren't enough for the whole room, but Index will have to make do for the fight.
Given the orc's gigantic size, the first area that the paladin decided to cut was its legs. The sword was dragged across the ground as he and his mount ran straight at the orc. The sound of metal screeching took the attention towards him if he had not happened yet. It threw a jab at him with its chain covered fists, missing by a huge margin given by the speed they were going. As Index passed by its legs, he stabbed through its skin with his sword and dragged it until they were away from the orc's reach. The cut was there, but they'll definitely need more than that.
"Er, guess that wasn't effective," he'd mutter as he stopped by where Catharsis was. Another punch went his way before he popped his cover skill, blocking the attack. Cracks were forming at the barrier when he turned to the healer and asked, "Got any damage-y stuff?" Even if he didn't, he figured there was no harm in asking.
catharsis
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May 31, 2017 3:56:52 GMT -5
Post by catharsis on May 31, 2017 3:56:52 GMT -5
GIVE ME ALL YOUR ENERGY
LOVE ME LIKE AN ENEMY Catharsis could tell it wasn't the response Index was hoping for, but that didn't move him. It wasn't until Index had charged on his mount and drawn the bulk of the bounty's aggro that he did anything, basing his attack off of the limited light cast from both the torch and the defender's mount. The Faywood Spirit on his shoulder chittered; most, Cat supposed, would use it purely for aesthetic effects as opposed to lighting. It was with schadenfreude that he responded to the defender's question, a dark energy ripping into the bounty for a short time. Pixels exploded off of the point of damage, some of them redistributing themselves between the Paladin and the Empath. Of course, given that neither of them had actually been damaged yet what with the Paladin's expert dodging, that part of it was useless. That was fine. "I'll do my best," He answered only after the attack had been issued, still unwilling to get too close to the orc until he was certain Index could hold its attention. Most of his attacks were best at - or even required - close range, but that wouldn't do either of them any good if he got himself killed getting cocky. He knew himself; he wasn't about to volunteer for up close and personal attention from that thing when he couldn't even get a good enough glimpse of the flooring until it was too late and he'd stumbled into a ditch. For now, he'd just study Index to see if he could trust his hold on the monster's attention before diving in. For all he knew, his current distance could give him a heads up to a shift in attention and save his life.
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Jun 1, 2017 12:05:31 GMT -5
Post by index on Jun 1, 2017 12:05:31 GMT -5
Amused smiles were present when Index saw an offensive spell under the healer's repertoire. That took care of part of the damage department, relieved that he won't have to deal with turtling the whole fight out. "Thanks." He doubted he'd need major healing throughout the fight and given their classes, they probably needed all the damage they could get. Any kind of first aid could come later, when the bounty is concluded and they were finally out of the cramped area under the ground.
The empath's spell brought the aggro to him. The giant orc withdrew his fist from Index's barrier and winded up another punch, though this time, it tried going above the paladin's cover. As the responsible defender that he was, he took what remained of the shield and heaved it overhead, shattering from the impact this time. With the punch's momentum broken along with the barrier, Index could only take a step back closer to Catharsis and match Ragnarok's blow with a swipe from his sword. "I got you."
With his passive kicking in, it wasn't surprising that his attack managed to not only block the orc's, but also deflect the punch. Index doesn't get to abuse the bonuses much, but having a boon on his stats was a nice safety net for them. Besides, this position was good enough. Having his eyes on both Ragnarok and Catharsis was much better than trying to maneuver around limited lighting. Index set up another cover as the orc recovered, waiting for it to strike again all while his mount fired a jolt of electricity towards it, acting as a taunt.
catharsis
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Jun 1, 2017 13:34:00 GMT -5
Post by catharsis on Jun 1, 2017 13:34:00 GMT -5
GIVE ME ALL YOUR ENERGY
LOVE ME LIKE AN ENEMY When Ragnorok turned his attention to Catharsis, it was what he had expected to happen. He was already taking a step backward when Index raised his barrier to defend him, halting the Empath's motion. A lot of people said they'd do their job defending, but half the time it was more a reflection of their pride than any actual ability to follow through. For the moment, Catharsis relaxed. There was a cooldown on schadenfreude, and he still wasn't willing to close the distance more than Index was forced to. "I need to budget it, but it's something." He admitted, figuring they'd have the best chance if Index knew what they were working with. Still, the moment the ability came off of cooldown, he used it again. This time, the moment he used it, he readjusted himself a bit backward but behind Index, about as close as he could be to trusting the Paladin not to force him to run. That monster seemed like he was landing pretty strong blows, but he from what he was seeing so far, he wouldn't even have to heal him. That was a relief. If he didn't have to heal Index, then he could focus on damage like the man wanted him to do. The only problem was that he was still left with a limited amount of energy. Had he known this would be an issue, he probably would have brought along one of the more excitable people he'd met so far. It spoke well of Index that he was so calm in the heated situation and all, but it wasn't much good for Cat.
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Jun 2, 2017 11:32:37 GMT -5
Post by index on Jun 2, 2017 11:32:37 GMT -5
"That's fine. As long we-" A straight jab from Ragnarok interrupted Index from speaking. The fist tried to pass through the paladin, and into the empath, but the cover that he has out proved to be difficult for the orc to break through. The force pushed Index backwards, but the shield persisted. As the threat was neutralized, Index cancelled the protection brought by his cover and countered with his sword, knocking the chain covered fist back with another swipe. "-beat this thing eventually," he finished.
At the moment, he wasn't doing his job as a proper tank by generating enough aggro so that the attention was on him. In fact, he already gave up on doing so and simply relied on his supportive skills to get around it. When Ragnarok launched a quick follow-up attack with its other hand and Index was caught with both his sword on an unfavorable position and his cover skill on cooldown, the paladin used his only stun spell with the notion of protecting himself. The room was quickly bathed in bright holy light, and Ragnarok wasn't the only one who was affected by it.
"Wait, no! Wrong move!"
He had not accounted for the environment when he used sanctify on a whim. The sudden exposure to the light hurt his eyes after they already adjusted themselves with the darkness. The good thing was that it stopped the orc completely with a stun. On the other hand, it probably was better to just let himself get hit and ask for a heal afterwards. His left arm went just above his eyes and tried to protect it from going blind, while his right hand tapped the mount on its head. "Jolty!" Before long, his Raiju started to shoot bolts on his stead as he was out of commission. Lightning dogs don't get blind, right?
catharsis
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Jun 3, 2017 0:10:09 GMT -5
Post by catharsis on Jun 3, 2017 0:10:09 GMT -5
GIVE ME ALL YOUR ENERGY
LOVE ME LIKE AN ENEMY Everyone liked being wanted, just maybe not like this. Cat shrank back every time Ragnarok angled a hit his way, although he maintained his actual footing, not about to leave Index, either. At least, not as long as the guy was doing the best that Cat was aware he could do, even going so far as to defend him until the barrier shattered. He winced at the sight, worried about what was going to happen but without the energy regen to do much else. Before he could even lift a hand, he couldn't see. The light flashed, blinding him too soon for him to hear the warning and flinch away. Cat yelled out, covering his eyes even as it did no good. He couldn't tell, even when he let his hands lower, if his vision was blurred or if he was just readjusting to the dimmer lighting. Fuck, that hurt. "A uh, a little heads up next time ..." He managed in a pained murmur, unable to get a good enough glimpse of the stunned Ragnarok to be confident in his aim. "Are you okay?" He asked, instead of outright attacking. If that monster snapped out of it and came for him, he wouldn't be able to see it in time.
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Jun 3, 2017 13:07:05 GMT -5
Post by index on Jun 3, 2017 13:07:05 GMT -5
He had been immobilized as much as ragnarok was after his stun. When they had difficulties seeing in the dark earlier, the two of them were completely unable to see anything now. He had his mount do its damage while the other contenders for the fight could not even participate. The only difference between them and ragnarok was that both him and Catharsis were not under the influence of game mechanics while ragnarok would be able to move as soon as the stun wears off, assuming that it could not get affected by trivial matters such as the sudden exposure to brightness.
The paladin started to swing his sword blindly in front of him, hitting nothing but air. At least he knew that his Raiju was facing towards the orc before his eyes failed him. "Yeah, I'm fi-" A punch to his right side interrupted him, throwing him off the mount and knocking him to the ground. Pain seared his side, standing up from his position with his left hand holding his damaged side. "Still fine!" On the brighter side of things, the aggro was on him.
Before long, his eyes can finally see the outlines of everything around him. They weren't vivid, but workable enough for him to run towards ragnarok and guide his sword to the orc's torso. Chivalry's passive bonuses were starting to decay and there was no reason to huddle close to the empath now that he was the target. Might as well make use of the increased attack stat before his strikes regain their peanut damage. If he got punches from ragnarok in retaliation, he'd probably just eat the damage up to concentrate on dealing dps. At least he has his defensive stats and a healer behind him to fall back to.
catharsis
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Jun 3, 2017 15:18:22 GMT -5
Post by catharsis on Jun 3, 2017 15:18:22 GMT -5
GIVE ME ALL YOUR ENERGY
LOVE ME LIKE AN ENEMY Cat could see just enough to know why the Paladin got caught off, relaxing some when Index assured him he was fine. Yeah, okay, good. The Empath still hesitated before he reached out with a schadenfreude, opting for the compromise between healing and damaging the bounty rather than casting either an overtime heal or a large burst of healing that would drain his energy. After all, Index had said he was fine, and Cat was left having to trust his input since he couldn't get a good look at his health bar aside from "still in the green." He chose to blindly trust the guy's judgment on his own health, since he wasn't in a position to babysit it for him. At least it hit, the magic damage ripping into Ragnarok and redistributing a portion of the lost health to Index. As his eyesight began to readjust, his sense of the fight was coming back. Thankfully, something about the stun had reset Ragnarok's aggro, at least for the moment. The defender was even on the offensive. This was looking closer towards the ideal than he'd thought things would turn out.
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Jun 3, 2017 22:23:04 GMT -5
catharsis likes this
Post by index on Jun 3, 2017 22:23:04 GMT -5
A portion of his health was recovered in the middle of his aggression. He hasn't even noticed the change in his health bar at all, concentrating on making use of the increased stat before it runs out instead of his own safety. Eyes were set on Ragnarok and his arms went on repetitive motions across its skin. He has the confidence in being able to handle any hit and heal the damage up afterwards, and besides, the duo did not have much offensive presence aside from his passive and the empath's magic thing.
Perseverance awarded them with chests when the orc fell with his last strike, bursting into pixels as his health bar depleted. Just in time too, watching the bonuses to his stats disappear on his status screen upon the orc's defeat. He cast a self heal to top off whatever damage the empath's skill did not recover and worked his way towards one of the chests that appeared. The sight of the crafting material put a smile on his face, though it was quickly thrown to his inventory without him playing with his loot.
"Hey, sorry for earlier again, but everything worked out so all's good, I guess." The beam on his lips was genuine, almost forgetting the guilt of the minor inconvenience. He went over and took the torch he placed by the entrance. Whistling, he called his mount to his side before turning to Catharsis. "Shall we head back?"
catharsis
//done i think lol
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